Lake County General Health District to host program to help improve sensory-motor precursors

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Janet Oliver demonstrates the important developmental movement of pointing, which is typically seen between 8 and 15 months -- an age at which the "mind sharing" ability most humans are known for is developed. Pointing and then following the point of another is the dawn of understanding that others have separate minds and that people can share by focusing visually on something together -- something not activated in those with autism and developmental delays.

Many people with speech issues never developed the automatic muscle responses to touch that typically are in place for infants, so these patterns weren't integrated into the upper brain's language center. Exercises like this help to differentiate the movement of the lips and cheeks in a natural, developmental way.

And the techniques it teaches to parents and others involved in the lives of those diagnosed with autism, attention deficit disorder, learning disabilities, social anxiety and other disorders have had results some describe as amazing.

The premise is that neurodevelopmental irregularities are the root cause of many of these problems.

A daylong training session on Thursday, hosted by the Lake County General Health District, will bring Janet L. Oliver to Lake County to meet with parents, counselors, social workers and others interested in many disorders

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"We'll explore and illuminate how to improve the sensory-motor precursors to speech, language and social interactions," Oliver said.

The program, "Reaching Out: Facial Reflexes and Movement Patterns for Speech and Language," runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the health district offices, 33 Mill St., Painesville.

Minneapolis-based Oliver, who grew up in Ashtabula County, still has relatives here and returns several times a year to give workshops and do evaluations. An international training consultant for HANDLE, she said the program celebrates the diversity of people and uses the term "differences" rather than "disorders." HANDLE is an acronym for "Holistic Approach to Neuro Development and Learning Efficiency."

"Reaching Out" in the program's title refers to that time in the development of a child when at 15 or 18 months old he or she reaches out with an item in his or her hand.

"That shows the child is comfortable with the sense of his body in space," Oliver said.

Some people with autism and learning disorders must learn to achieve that as older children so they can learn.

Instead of labeling someone with an attention deficit, the program renames the inability to set and sustain priorities as Attention Priority Disorder.

Just as no two fingerprints are alike, no two people have the same arrangement of pathways carrying messages to, within and from their brain, she explained. And, she says, it requires no special equipment and only a few minutes each day to rewire the brain and achieve measurable results.

HANDLE views all behavior as communication, rather than symptoms to be masked or controlled. Human behaviors are seen as the functionings of various parts of the body, notably the nervous system and the brain. When one system is disabled or stressed, another may reflect the stress -- similar to the way eyestrain can cause a headache.

ADHD, autism, dyslexia, motor weakness and learning disabilities all relate to the smooth interaction of the brainstem, cerebellum and the cortex of the brain. Nutritional issues, environmental stresses, allergies and genetics inclinations can all play a role in whether someone is a healthy, focused, person who can interact joyfully with the world.

The facial reflexes and movement patterns necessary for speech and language development are so common and ordinary that most people take them for granted, Oliver said. But if development of sucking and swallowing, for instance, is short-circuited in a baby's development, the child's speech and language will be affected.

Simple exercises making faces or sucking on a straw might be used in an older child to develop and strengthen those reflexes, she said. That, often very quickly, leads to an improvement in speech and language skills.

Those who attend the health district program with Oliver will:

-- Learn how body sense awareness is a key to language processing, language understanding and social interaction

-- Study brain functions that support language development and social interaction

-- Practice reflex and movement activities that encourage speech and language development

-- Identify how to evaluate a starting point for those with language-processing issues

-- Identify many early developmental learning patterns and reflexive responses for language and social interactions

-- Learn how issues with body senses and language interfere with relationship development and social skills.

The training fee is $150, but discounted rates are available for seniors and students as well as for agencies with three or more staff members attending. Get details from Sandra Allison at 440-350-2089 or sallison@lcghd.org.